Jane Dobisc, who later became a Zen
teacher under Korean Master Seung Sahn, went on a pilgrimage to
the East as a young woman, searching for a Buddhist teacher. At
one point she spent weeks trekking through the Himalayas to get
to a particularly remote monastery. Reaching it at last she
knocked upon the door and asked if she could see the lama.

"Oh, no," replied the nun
who'd opened the door. "He's in New York."

When Dobisc returned home she
discovered that Master Seung Sahn had been operating a practice
center in Rhode Island all along, no more than a ten-minute drive
from her family's home. - from Sean Murphy's "One
Bird, One Stone" (Renaissance Books)

The Path

All of us are apprenticed to the
same teacher
that the religious institutions originally worked
with: reality. Reality-insight says ... master
the twenty-four hours. Do it well, without self-
pity. It is as hard to get the children herded
into the car pool and down the road to the bus
as it is to chant sutras in the Buddha-hall on
a cold morning. One move is not better than the
other, each can be quite boring, and they both
have the virtuous quality of repetition.

Repetition and ritual and their good results
come in many forms. Changing the filter, wiping
noses, going to meetings, picking up around the
house, washing dishes, checking the dipstick-don't
let yourself think these are distracting you from
your more serious pursuits. Such a round of chores
is not a set of difficulties we hope to escape
from so that we may do our "practice" which will
put us on a "path"-it is our path.

So what is the point of waiting? What exactly are you waiting
for? Is somebody going to give you what you always wanted? Will a
train come from Heaven bringing you goodies? But nothing that
could ever happen could be as good, as precious, as who you are.
What stops you from being, from being present, is nothing but
your hope for the future. Hoping for something to be different
keeps you looking for some future fantasy. But it is a mirage;
you'll never get there. The mirage stops you from seeing the
obvious, the preciousness of Being. It is a great distortion, a
great misunderstanding of what will fulfill you. When you follow
the mirage, you are rejecting yourself.

-- A.H. Almaas, from 365 Nirvana, Here and Now by Josh Baran posted to Wisdom-l by Mark Scorelle

"End of Your
World" Adyashanti

The truth of our being is not
content until it has freed itself of its own misunderstanding,
its own fixations, its own illusions.

To allow that to happen, as a human being, we have to be willing
to be honest with ourselves. While not denying what we've seen,
we also have to see how things are, right here and right now. We
need to look. We need to ask: "What in me can still go into
division? What in me can still go into hate, into ignorance, into
greed? What in me can cause me to feel divided, isolated, full of
sorrow? Where are those spots in me that are less awakened?

We need to see these places, because that which is awakened in us
is compassionate. Its nature is undivided, unconditioned love. It
doesn't move away from that which is unawakened; it moves toward
it. That within us which is awakened doesn't move away from the
contradictions in our thought patterns or behaviors. It doesn't
move away from fixations, it doesn't move away from pain, but
quite the opposite. It moves toward it

(pg 47)
posted to Wisdom-l by Mark Scorelle

Caretake This
MomentCaretake this
moment.
Immerse yourself in its particulars.
Respond to this person, this challenge, this
deed.

Quit the evasions.
Stop giving yourself needless trouble.
It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you
happen to be in now.
You are not some disinterested bystander.
Exert yourself.

Respect your
partnership with providence.
Ask yourself often, How may I perform this particular deed
such that it would be consistent with and acceptable to the
divine will?
Heed the answer and get to work.

When your doors are
shut and your room is dark you are not alone.
The will of nature is within you as your natural genius is
within.
Listen to its importunings.
Follow its directives.

As concerns the art
of living, the material is your own life.
No great thing is created suddenly.
There must be time.